Each year, billions of consumer and enterprise devices are connected to the Internet to develop a dynamic infrastructure coined as the Internet-Of-Things (IOT). Mainstream access to the Internet typically requires a WiFi system equipped with an Ethernet connection or a mobile network such as a 3G/4G network. A device adopting any one of these access solutions is thus equipped with long-range wireless capabilities. For the upcoming trend of ubiquitous devices that enable the IOT however, short-range wireless devices, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) enabled devices, are becoming more prevalent. The popularity of these short-range wireless devices can be attributed to their relatively low energy consumption and relatively broad geographic reach.
Unfortunately, these short-range wireless devices are not equipped with any long-range wireless capabilities, so they cannot be connected to the Internet without the help of any long-range wireless device (e.g., a 3G/4G enabled smart phone or a laptop computer with WiFi capabilities). In the event that the short-range wireless device has access to a long-range wireless device, the short-range wireless device lacks the control to initiate the Internet connection. Often, supervisions and interventions of a human user are required before the long-range wireless device can provide any network service to the short-range wireless device. As such, the process for connecting the short-range wireless device to the Internet can be onerous and inconvenient for a human user. Thus, there is a need for systems and methods that provide long-range network service to short-range wireless devices without requiring a substantial amount of human inputs or supervisions.